Improvement in baling-presses



y, UNITED' STATES PATENT erica.

HORATIO` HICKS, OF GRANDVIEW, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR T() HICKS BROTHERS, OF SAME PLACE.

IM PROVEiVl ENT IN BALING-PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,487, dated June 27, 1865i.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, Honlvrro F. Hiorrs, of

' Grandview, 'Decatur county, Indiana, have invented a new and useful Baling'Press; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, ma keration of charging the trunk, elevated and depressed by a positive motion acting independently of the gravity of said head; andmypres ent improvements consist, chieiiy, in provisions for insuring greater efficiency, coupled with economy of power and labor in the acts of packing and baling, together with increased strength and the absoluterigidity ot' those portions ofthe trunk which impart to the bale its final form and dimensions.

Figure l is a perspective view of a press embodying my improvements, the same being in condition for packing. Fig. 2 is an axial section through the same. Fig. 3 represents a portion of my press viewed from the rear, the packer and follower being at their greatestapproximation and the doors being thrown open. FigA is a horizontal section throughthat portion of the trunk in which the bale receives its linal form and dimensions, indicated by the line a; fr, Fig. 2.

The trunk A is preserved from overturning and also from rotating on its axis by means of any customary platform, B, which platform may be a floor of a building. The trunk A has at itslower end a stout transom, C, having a circular aperture which receives a nut, D, whose lower end is guided and supported by a proper mud-sill and bed-plate,E. The said nut, transom,`and sill have circular stepped collars or bosses F, between which are interposed doubleheaded rollers Gr,journaled in rings H and H. The nut D is rotated bymeans of a sweep or pole, I, and contains a main screw, J, which is firmly bolted to the under side of the lower head or follower, K, with which it rises and descends without revolving. 1

Attached to and revolving with the nut D is a cylindrical cage orframe,L,having aguide rail or cam, M, which for about one-third of the circuit of the cageis level, as at m, whence at m it descends at 'first rapidly, gradually decreasing in its rapidity of descent until, from its greatest depression at m, itwinds upward with a steep acclivity to rejoin the level portion. Situated over the undulating portions of the rail Mgand parallel therewith,is a second rail, M.

The upper head or packer, N, has a stem,O O', whose two sections, O and O', are capable ot' being locked fast to eachother, so as to form a single rod, by means of a catch, l?. The stem O O is guided to a vertical path by means of rollers Q,'journaled to the trunlrframe.

The stem O O' carries at its lower end a roller, It, which, in course of the circuit of the nut D and cage L, reaching the declined portion m of the rail M, permits the packer N to drop at rst by its own gravity until, reaching apoint where its continued descent would be arrested by the body of hay, the said roller It, passing underneath the rail M', receives thereafter a positive propulsion downward, so as to compel the packer to descend by a force independent `of its weight and to move farther and with greater force than would be obtainable from the mere momentum of the descending packer.

Having reached the bottom of its stroke, the roller It, at first slowly and afterward rapidly,

ascends under the action of the cam MM' until it reaches the level portion m, which acts to sustain the packer in an elevated position long enough to permit charging of the trunk with a fresh batch of hay.

The feed-door S is hinged to the trunk by means of a crank-shaft, T, from whose wrist t depends a rod,U, having aroller.,V, at its lower extremity, which, at a portion of the circuit of the cage corresponding to the descent of the roller R, impinges on the ascending port-ionfw of a cam, W, and acts to close the feed-door, its level portion zo' holding said door shut while the packer is descending, and its descending portion w permitting the said door to quietly reopen.

During the above-described movements the main screw J operates to slowly and uniformlyT depress the follower Kuntil the latter reaches the bottom of the trunk. The attendant now closes the feed-door by means of the catch X and disengages from each yother the parts O and O of the packer-stem and secures the packer N by means ot' the keys Y, which preparations having been made, the sweep is rotated in the reverse direction, causing the followerK to ascend and to compressthe hay into the form and dimensions of abale.

I avoid the irregular bulging contour of ordinary pressed bales, and by Vthe same means increase the durability-of my press, by providing the billing-doors Z Z' with struts l at their mid-lengths, which struts support bridge-rods 2 2', whose rear ends become parts ormem bers of the hinges 3 3', whose lstationary portions or members 4 e are secured to andv extend entirely -athwart one side of the trunk, andbecome at their other ends the corresponding ymembers ol' the hinges ofthe other'bale-door, Z'. Similar rods, forming a stirrup, 5 5', are hinged .tothe free end of the said bale-door Z', and, engaging in notches ,6 6 in the free edge ofthe bale-,doorZ/, operate to entirely surround with a cordon of hoops or bands the portion of the trunk which is subjected to the greatest strain, while the system of struts and bridging effectually prevents lany bulging of the doors ZZ', because the greater the bursting or bulging force the vmore tightly the rods become drawn.

In order to enable the hooped baleto be eas` ily7 removed from the press, I provide on the free ends ofthe baleloors wing-s 7, whose upper and lower edges and sides next the trunk taper inward. The effect ofthe wings 7 is to leave a space between the end of the bale and the trunk side by the mere act of throwing open thebale-doors, so asto facilitate the removal .of the bale when hooped.

8 is a roller to receive the upward stress of the revolving cage as thepacker reaches its extreme pressure.

`I claim herein as new and of my invention- 1. The revolving cage or cam operating to automatically open and close'the feed-door and to elevate and depress the packer by a force independent of its gravity, substantial] y asset forth.

2. The arrangement of nut D, sill E, transom C, collars F, rings'H H', and rollers Gr,for` the support ,and easy operation-of thepress, as set forth.

3. The provision of the parts l 1, 22,3 3, 4 4, 5 5, and 6 6, or their equivalents, for the purpose explained.

In testimony of which invention I lhereunto set my hand.

HORATIO F. HICKS. Witnesses:

J AMES H. LAYMAN, GEO. H. KNIGHT. 

